Showing posts with label mortgage rates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mortgage rates. Show all posts

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Mortgage Rates Spike Quarter Percent

30 year fixed mortgage rates have risen a quarter point this week to 4.25% on plummeting mortgage-backed securities prices. MBS prices drive mortgage rates in the opposite direction. Conventional 15 year fixed interest rates are also up a quarter of a percent and are at 3.75% currently for well-qualified borrowers who pay a standard .07 to 1 point origination. Both fixed mortgage rates are up substantially from last week and at an immediate risk to rise further.

FHA loan rates move with conforming mortgage rates and are also up this week. Today's 30 year fixed FHA loan rate is at 4.125%, up from 4%. Although the same note rate is available on an FHA 30 year fixed mortgage as a conforming 30 year fixed loan, MI and other fees charged by the Federal Housing Administration make APR higher on an FHA mortgage.

Jumbo mortgage rates are unchanged. The current jumbo 30 year fixed rate is 4.875%
Wells Fargo, the nation's number one originator by volume, adjusted their advertised 30 year fixed rate from 4.25% to 4.625% with an APR of 4.812.

FreeRateUpdate.com surveys wholesale and direct lenders' rate sheets to determine the most accurate mortgage interest rates available to well-qualified consumers who pay an industry standard .07 to 1 point origination. These rates are commonly referred to as "par rates" by mortgage loan officers.

Monday, October 18, 2010

30-Year FRM Under 5 Percent for 23 Consecutive Weeks

McLean, VA – Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), which found that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate fell again to break the survey’s all-time low; the 30-year FRM has been under 5 percent for 23 weeks in a row. The last time 30-year FRM rates were this low was April 1951 (based on a data series of FHA rates going back to 1948). The 5-year ARM tied the all-time survey low set last week.


30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.19 percent with an average 0.8 point for the week ending October 14, 2010, down from last week when it averaged 4.27 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.92 percent.


15-year FRM this week averaged a record low of 3.62 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.72 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.37 percent.

5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.47 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, tied with last week when it also averaged 3.47 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 4.38 percent.

1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.43 percent this week with an average 0.8 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.40 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 4.60 percent.

Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac, notes, "September’s employment report held no big surprises to financial markets, allowing long-term bond yields and fix mortgage rates to continue to ease. As a result, both the 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgage rates hit all-time record lows for the third consecutive week."

"Historically low rates have spurred yet another refinancing wave. Conventional mortgage applications for refinance jumped 24 percent over the week of October 8th to the strongest pace since mid-April 2009, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association . The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that homeowners held an average effective mortgage rate of 6.07 percent in the second quarter of 2010. By refinancing into this week’s 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the average homeowner could save over $230 a month in principal and interest payments on a $200,000 loan balance."